Control of Cats Key to Bighorn Recovery
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep have been experiencing an unseasonably mild winter on the eastern slopes of their range, which has made their fragile lives a little easier.
But last week, the animals got an even bigger boost: federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Previously, they had been listed on a temporary “emergency” basis. The formal listing is just that--a formality. But it is significant in that now the animals cannot be removed from the list until they are able to stand on their own four feet, so to speak.
Over the years, they have fallen victim to disease spread by domestic sheep and fragmentation of habitat, but it was predation by mountain lions in the last several years that led to the push to get the federal listing, which overrides state protection of cougars and enables wildlife managers to kill the big cats if they kill bighorn sheep or pose an “imminent threat” to bighorn populations.
Sierra Nevada bighorns, now in five separate groups stretching from the Lee Vining area south to just beyond Lone Pine, numbered about 300 in 1985. They reached a low of about 100 a year ago, largely because of predation and pressure put on them by mountain lions, which forced the sheep into higher areas with harsher weather. Now there are 125 animals, which is encouraging, but winter has been slow to set in and only this week has the Eastern Sierra received any substantial snow.
Meanwhile, one cougar has already been tracked and killed, last month, as an imminent threat to two bighorn groups in the Lee Vining area, one of which contains only one female, which has a yearling by her side.
“The mountain lion was continuously staying in an area 1 1/2 miles between the two groups, and for a mountain lion that’s about a 20-minute jaunt or less,” says Troy Kelly, a Department of Fish and Game biologist and program manager for the Sierra Nevada bighorn recovery effort.
The cougar was an 8-year-old adult male that weighed 121 pounds. Considered “older” by cougar standards, Kelly said it had remained in the area “weeks to months” after the local herd of mule deer moved to its winter range. Deer are the chief prey of mountain lions.
The killing of the big cat was not publicized for obvious reasons, notably the outcry it might cause among animal-rights activists who, in 1990, led a successful ballot initiative that banned the hunting of cougars--which are not an endangered or threatened species--and allowed them to be killed only if they threatened public safety.
Kelly said the recovery plan--which is still being formulated and is expected to be drafted in June--is not a declaration of war against Eastern Sierra mountain lions. To the contrary, cougars are vital to the ecosystem and must meet strict criteria to be considered problem animals. Direct evidence or actual sightings of lions killing sheep fit the criteria. So do cougars lingering consistently around bighorn sheep and thus posing an imminent threat.
“It’s a judgment call,” Kelly says. “And that’s my job, to make sure our predator management team is informed enough . . . to make sure we make the right call.”
Predator management is only part of the recovery effort, which also includes a captive-breeding strategy in case such a plan should become necessary; relocation of animals from group to group for balance, and DNA analysis to help prevent problems with inbreeding.
“With this year’s lambs, we could be looking at 160 animals [this spring and summer],” says John Weyhausen of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation in Bishop. “We’ve been rooting for easy winters, but on the other hand, a long-term drought doesn’t bode well for the sheep, so we do need some snow.”
They finally got some this week.
LET IT SNOW
How bad is a ski season without natural snow?
That depends, of course, on several factors, notably a resort’s ability to manufacture its own snow, whether it’s cold enough to do it, and how much water is available as weeks turn to months without so much as a passing cloud.
Such has been the case locally, anyway.
Snow Summit, Big Bear Mountain, Snow Valley and Mountain High are getting enough visits to remain open, thanks to their snow-making operations, but they’re all experiencing more bumps than bright spots.
Big Bear Mountain, for example, spent all week trying to dispel rumors that it had closed because of lack of snow. At least one television news crew and one Web site reported the rumor as fact, causing the marketing staff at the ski area to send out a flurry of news releases saying the slopes are open--and with man-made snow as deep as five feet in places.
Another rumor is that Mountain High is running low on its water reserve used to manufacture snow. Brad Wilson, marketing director at the Wrightwood resort, responded to this rather sternly, saying, “No, we’re not out of water. It’s amazing what people will say when they’re getting their butts kicked in the marketplace.”
Wilson went on to say that business is strong at Mountain High despite the lack of natural snow.
In any event, it has become as clear as the sky is blue that snow-making systems are only temporary saviors. Overall, business in California is way down from last year for those resorts that have been able to open. Several, among them June Mountain in the Eastern Sierra, have not been able to open.
“We’re all doing snow dances and a whole lot of praying,” Big Bear Mountain’s Judi Bowers said. “And asking people with connections to Mother Nature to put in a request for some real snow.”
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Were it not for snowboarders, who are far less picky than skiers, California’s resorts would be all but deserted. Snowboarders outnumber skiers by as many as 8-1 at some areas.
Says Bowers, “Looking out on the mountain, you have to really search to find a skier mixed in with all the snowboarders. They just like to ride and will do it whether we have natural snow or not.”
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Up north, Sierra-at-Tahoe can finally boast of fresh powder. Sure beats the crusty stuff they’ve been taking from the branches of trees to bolster spotty man-made coverage. Like Big Bear Mountain, Sierra-at-Tahoe also recently had to tell the public that it was still open.
Now it seems the jet stream is finally lowering, enabling storms to move through both the Tahoe area and the Eastern Sierra. Tahoe resorts and Mammoth Mountain received up to a foot of snow Tuesday and more is expected this weekend. Not much of it, if any, is expected to land on local slopes.
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At Mammoth, Kyle Rasmussen of Angels Camp, Calif., won the Ford Downhill Series individual competition last Saturday with a time of 2 minutes 0.87 seconds, increasing his series points lead over France’s Jean-Luc Cretier to a comfortable 145-120, with two events remaining. Cretier, gold medalist at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, finished fourth. Rasmussen and former Olympic gold medalist Tommy Moe won the team downhill at Mammoth with a combined time of 2:03.66.
Said Rasmussen, who finished 12th in the downhill at Nagano: “This win confirms I’m really on a roll.”
No kidding.
The two remaining events are at Sugarbush in Vermont, Feb. 3-6, and Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe March 2-5.
TAKING THE PLUNGE
Tori Murden, who last month became the first woman and first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, has tied the knot--and no, it wasn’t a slippery hitch.
Murden, 36, a Kentucky attorney, married longtime sweetheart Charles McClure in a private ceremony last Friday at St. Francis, Ky.
She proposed to McClure, 56, via satellite phone during the middle of her 81-day, 3,000-mile journey from the Canary Islands off Africa to Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles.
Presumably, they decided against a honeymoon cruise.
FOR THE HALIBUT
* It’s hardly a bonanza, but halibut counts have been unseasonably high this month. The reason is simple: The two-month rockfish closure, which went into effect Jan. 1, has given the local fleets no choice but to target other species.
“Pretty soon they’re going to have to put a moratorium on halibut because of all this,” says Philip Friedman of the hot line 976-TUNA. Friedman was joking, of course, but fishermen aboard half-day boats are taking more legal-size (22 inches or more) halibut than they normally would in January, with the best bite taking place from Long Beach to Oceanside.
* Marina del Rey Anglers’ annual halibut derby in Santa Monica Bay is scheduled April 1-2. Grand prizes are trips to Alaska and Mexico. There is also a chance to win a new truck. Cost is $60 for individual competition, but there are youth and team divisions as well. Details and entry forms are available online at https://www.mdranglers.com.
TO THE HUNT
* Northern California hunters enjoyed the best success during the recent bear season, as usual. Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta and Humboldt counties served up most of the 1,775 black bears bagged in 1999. Some numbers: Hunters with dogs killed 897 bears, 615 were shot by hunters during deer season, 108 were taken with archery equipment and 99 were killed during guided hunts.
* California license sales totaled 316,815 in 1998, dropping for the 12th consecutive year, according to figures released this month by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. California was one of 24 states that experienced a decline, while 25 experienced an increase. Nationwide, 14,891,855 hunting licenses were sold in 1998. Pennsylvania led the way with 1,066,032 licenses sold. Hawaii sold only 9,613.
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FISH REPORT, PAGE 11
